Volume
by fir8008
Summary: He never raises his voice to her. Shikaku/Yoshino oneshot. Minor language


Shikaku never raises his voice to her.

He's a Nara man: lazy by nature. His wife has him "whipped" as his friends and even his son put it. Yoshino is a force of nature: loud, destructive, and scary. Shikaku figures he should simply let his wife be the controlling woman she is, instead of wasting time by fighting with her. Yoshino always wins. End of story.

Even though Yoshino scares him, she has her gentle side. He loves his wife dearly. Shikaku might be lazy, but he's also a family man. He would die to protect his wife and son. And he knows despite all the psychological training and the experience he's had, nothing would prepare him if and when they die. He thinks he's lucky to have a genius for a son who is also a skilled ninja and an ex-kunoichi wife who wouldn't think twice about killing an intruder. So he breathes easier when he has to be away for a long time.

He was filing a report when Inoichi came running into Tsunade's building. "Shikaku!"

"What is it, Inoichi?" Shikaku asked.

"Someone broke into your house…"

Shikaku is up. Up and about to run out of the room. Inoichi grabs him by the shoulders. "But they're alright, Shikaku. Yoshino's fine. She killed both intruders. She was shaken up a bit, but hell anyone would be. Shikamaru's okay too. The medics just tacked on a little extra recovery for his leg. I mean there isn't much worse that can happen when it's already broken, right? They're fine, absolutely fine."

But they are not fine. Shikaku is not fine. His head is swimming. "Inoichi," his voice is barely audible. "What happened?"

"Bandits. You know they've been helping themselves to houses left relatively unattended. With the war and all, the Village is a tad short-staffed. They saw you leave before and thought the house was empty. Shikamaru caught them but they restrained him. Yoshino heard the commotion and found the two bandits holding your son hostage. They didn't realize she was armed and had training… she killed 'em both."

Shikaku felt himself shaking. Bandits had broken into his house and threatened his wife and child. "Where are they?"

"They're at the hospital. Medics wanted to check Shikamaru's leg again. He fell on it."

The hospital was a blur for Shikaku. His wife threw her arms around him, whispering "Thank god you're here…" Shikamaru half-heartedly greeted his father and explained what had happened a little more. Yoshino had thrown a kunai at one of them, hitting him square between the eyes. She charged the other one and stabbed him in the throat. Shikamaru hadn't been injured, except for his jostled broken leg. Yoshino had been cut on the arm by the bandit trying to defend himself, but it was a shallow cut and was quickly healed by a medic.

They all went home. Shikamaru hobbled into his room and Yoshino was about to go to the bedroom when Shikaku stopped her. "Wife," his voice was quiet and gruff.

Yoshino turned to her husband. "Yes?"

"Come here."

Yoshino complied, walking over to her husband. "Shikaku, you're tried. Let's go to bed."

"No, you're going to listen to me!"

Yoshino was shocked. Shikaku never yelled at her. Not even when they were young and hated each other. What was going on?

He pushed her against the wall and her heart began thundering in her chest. "You crazy, stupid, troublesome woman! What were you thinking? Taking on those two bandits by yourself… they could have killed you!"

"They were going to kill Shikamaru…" she whispered. "They were going to rob us blind…"

"Dammit woman! All the times you've nagged me to consider your feelings when I go out for a mission so I come back alive… you don't take your own advice! They could have killed you! How do you think I would've felt if Inoichi had to tell me you'd died? Don't you ever do this again!"

Shikaku suddenly became quiet, the fire gone from his demeanor. He seized Yoshino by the shoulders and pulled her close to him. He buried his face in the crook of her neck and she could hear him making strangled, grunting sounds as his body trembled against hers.

It suddenly dawned on Yoshino that her husband was crying. Nara Shikaku – the highly respected Jonin commander, the renowned member of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, the brilliant military strategist, the merciless shinobi on the battlefield – was crying into his wife's shoulder. He had been afraid.

Yoshino wrapped her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tightly.

"Don't do that to me again," Shikaku's voice was raspy and soft. "Please, Yoshino, don't scare me like that."

"I'm sorry, Shikaku." Yoshino kissed her husband's ear. "You crybaby… I love you."

"I guess Shikamaru inherited his crying from me…" Shikaku looked into his wife's eyes. "Yoshino, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you or him."

"You'd sit on your ass all day because I wouldn't be there to nag you." Yoshino remarked wryly.

Shikaku chuckled softly and wiped his eyes. "Troublesome woman… look what you've done to me." He rested his forehead against hers and sighed. "I love you."


End file.
